The Contamination Waltzhighlights the creative process of the Winter/Summer Institute (WSI). Since its launch in 2006, WSI has been bringing performers and directors, students and teachers, together from three continents to create collaborative theatre in Lesotho. IMA faculty member, Katt Lissard, is WSI’s artistic director.

Launched in June 2006 by eight colleagues from the United States (US), United Kingdom (UK), the Republic of South Africa (RSA), and Lesotho, WSI is a multicultural, collaborative effort among faculty facilitators and student performers from three continents as well as community participants from the rural mountain villages of Lesotho’s Malealea Valley. Our biennial program challenges participants to create issue-based, aesthetically provocative, entertaining theatre.

Since its inception, the Theatre for Development (TfD) focus of WSI has been a response to the community health situation in Lesotho. Along with much of sub-Saharan Africa, Lesotho has a staggering HIV infection rate—currently estimated at over 23% (the 3rd highest in the world), and disproportionately affecting young women between 18 and 24. As part of addressing the pandemic, WSI examines the ways in which complex social issues impact the spread of the virus.Learn more at the W/S website.

Engaged Learning, Research & Practice for a Changing World

This blog is a project of Goddard College's Individualized MA, SIS and HAS programs, featuring the work, research, studies and arts of students, faculty and alumni as they create worlds of change in their communities and beyond.

Read Our Book: Free Download of Teaching Transformation

Teaching Transformation: Progressive Education in Action edited by Lise Weil and Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg with an introduction by Elizabeth K. Minnich, is now available! Featuring over 30 contributors, speaks directly to what faculty member and contributor Sarah Van Hoy calls "undiagnosed visionaries" who find their way to enacting their visions and callings through such an educational experience. Minnich writes of the book, "It is my profound conviction, an increasingly urgent one, that this book -- a volume on teaching by committed, experienced teacher-learners reflecting in depth about their art, their calling, and why it matters -- ought to be read and talked about as widely as possible." Learn more about the book here and how to download it for free or buy a copy.